Acquired
01:29:19 · Ben Gilbert, David Rosenthal
[01:29:19] S0: I see. [01:29:20] S1: And then the big moment, the Chinese restaurant. That's in that first half season. [01:29:26] S0: They never leave the lobby of the Chinese restaurant in this entire episode. That must have been so frustrating for the network executives to get the script and be like, are you kidding me? This is a single set sitcom. And not only is it single set, you're not even gonna use the set that we built you on the soundstage. You know, this isn't free. Like, we have to build a completely new restaurant set for you to go shoot this episode in. And it's totally absurd [01:29:51] S1: what you're doing. [01:29:52] S0: Basically, nothing's gonna happen all episode because it's just people making phone calls from a payphone, getting mad at the guy who won't let you get a seat. Is there really enough to move a story forward here in twenty two minutes? And it turns out, it was brilliant. [01:30:03] S1: Yeah. A defining moment for the show. But this episode, in production, NBC is freaking out about it. So they consider shutting down production that week of the show, which they would do from time to time with other shows. I mean, the relationship usually of the network with the show is the network can do whatever they want, and they don't like something. They they shut down production that week. So Rick Ludwin goes out for a walk with Larry around the lot and explains, hey. We got some concerns about this one. What are you
01:30:03 · David Rosenthal, Ben Gilbert
[01:30:03] S1: Yeah. A defining moment for the show. But this episode, in production, NBC is freaking out about it. So they consider shutting down production that week of the show, which they would do from time to time with other shows. I mean, the relationship usually of the network with the show is the network can do whatever they want, and they don't like something. They they shut down production that week. So Rick Ludwin goes out for a walk with Larry around the lot and explains, hey. We got some concerns about this one. What are you [01:30:36] S0: guys doing? And the network has real time data coming in from their ad sales force because they're talking about episode plots to advertisers trying to get them hooked on advertising. And imagine you have to arm your Salesforce with the whole episodes in the lobby of a Chinese restaurant. It's not good for NBC. [01:30:57] S1: Well, foreshadow, imagine you have to arm your Salesforce with the whole episode is about being the master of your domain. We'll get to that one in a minute. But... Yeah. So the... You know, Rick takes Larry out on this walk around the lot, and Larry just blows up. He just lets him out. He's like, this is what the show is. This is this is my vision. If you don't like it, I quit. Fine. You don't wanna make it? Show's over. And nobody did this. No creator would... Usually, the network says we don't like it. Oh, okay. Whatever you want.
01:30:57 · David Rosenthal, Ben Gilbert
[01:30:57] S1: Well, foreshadow, imagine you have to arm your Salesforce with the whole episode is about being the master of your domain. We'll get to that one in a minute. But... Yeah. So the... You know, Rick takes Larry out on this walk around the lot, and Larry just blows up. He just lets him out. He's like, this is what the show is. This is this is my vision. If you don't like it, I quit. Fine. You don't wanna make it? Show's over. And nobody did this. No creator would... Usually, the network says we don't like it. Oh, okay. Whatever you want. [01:31:27] S0: It's interesting because, like, this is why Seinfeld succeeded, but the lesson here isn't be a blowhard and abrasive to everyone and insist that your vision is the correct vision and take no notes ever, dot dot dot success. That's not... For most people in most situations, that is failure, But it just so happened that these two were comic geniuses and and were right and then absolutely worked their tails off to refine these stories with a team of writers to produce just some of the absolute funniest material ever seen on television at the time. But, like, what is the lesson?
01:31:27 · Ben Gilbert, David Rosenthal
[01:31:27] S0: It's interesting because, like, this is why Seinfeld succeeded, but the lesson here isn't be a blowhard and abrasive to everyone and insist that your vision is the correct vision and take no notes ever, dot dot dot success. That's not... For most people in most situations, that is failure, But it just so happened that these two were comic geniuses and and were right and then absolutely worked their tails off to refine these stories with a team of writers to produce just some of the absolute funniest material ever seen on television at the time. But, like, what is the lesson? [01:32:04] S1: You hit the nail on the head. I I was actually talking to to Warren to Littlefield about this when we... In research because I sort of asked, you know, nobody ever made a show like this again. Why not? It was so clearly successful. It was the right way to do it. And, you know, there's all sorts of reasons for bureaucracy in people's careers and politics, etcetera, etcetera. But he also made the really good point, like, not every creator is Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. Like, if you're gonna let a genius be a genius, you need to be sure you're working actually with a genius. Right. Most people are are not. [01:32:38] S0: Occasionally out there, there's a Nathan Fielder or a Tim Robinson. But, like, most people with these totally ludicrous, absurdist ideas are wrong. Yep. [01:32:50] S1: It's Are are not another parallel with Silicon Valley. Right? Yeah. Most founders are wrong, but some founders are right. [01:32:57] S0: Yep. And when they're right, they're really right.
01:32:57 · Ben Gilbert, David Rosenthal
[01:32:57] S0: Yep. And when they're right, they're really right. [01:32:59] S1: Yep. So season two, the first full half season here, is great creatively. I mean, the the finale is the episode, the busboy, where Larry introduces the interweaving storylines that all intersect and resolve at the end in the grand finale.
01:33:18 · Ben Gilbert, David Rosenthal
[01:33:18] S0: Yeah. So this becomes a a hallmark of Seinfeld. Typically, in sitcoms, there's an a story where it opens on the a story. That's, like, 60, 70% of the story, and there's a b story. And you kinda flip back and forth, and, like, maybe they rely on each other, but it's pretty separate. What they figured out in Seinfeld, and in particular, I think the busboy, that season two finale is where they really catch their stride on it. They would give each character a story line. So you have four concurrent story lines, which means you have to be really efficient in your storytelling. There could be no wasted words, no wasted minutes. And as the episodes progress, the story lines start to be interwoven in unexpected and surprising ways, and then they almost always converge at the end in, like, a violent, unexpected blowup that's unfortunate for everyone and ruins all of their lives concurrently and then cut to credits. Yep. And that became this, like, real winning formula for them, which is hard. And, David, you you and I know this is hard. As you're structuring story It's really hard. Kinda, like, squinting from it from all these different ways as... Especially as the story gets larger and larger, you're like, god. How do I introduce this here, but then pay it off later, but then not spoil it in the middle? And we're not even doing comedy. We're doing storytelling here. [01:34:33] S1: We're doing nonfiction storytelling. Yes.